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Australian Sheps… I have 2 now and foster many with ARPH.
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Collies, not the Border kind
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Labradorks- Hey I was raised with them, gotta a soft spot.
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Ridgeback- They just seem like cool dogs
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Blood Hounds- But only if they can stay as a puppy. Hands down there is no cuter puppy than a bloodhound pup.
Whippet
My wife always wanted a whippet and I didn’t get it at all. They looked kinda weird, all skinny, lanky, and seemingly fragile. Then, we got a whippet pup. Now, I get it. I love whippets.
What I first saw as gangly, I now see as elegant. We were taking him to a dog park, and it was fun and all watching him wrestle with other dogs. Then, one day, he figured out he can run, and he took off like a rocket. It was amazing how fast and graceful he ran.
Then, we kept taking him back, and he loved getting the entire dog park chasing him around the perimeter. It’s an awesome sight seeing a whippet run full speed.
Then, instead of running full speed and blowing everyone away, he figured out how to run “just fast enough” not to get caught by other dogs. If another dog was particularly fast, it might catch up to our whippet, but when it got close, our whippet would find his overdrive and put some distance between them. Again, amazing to watch.
One day, he was being chased by a greyhound. Our whippet loved running “just fast enough” and turning his head back to see how far back the rest of the pack was. This time, he turned his head back only to see a greyhound right in his face. He wasn’t used to that, and they had a great run together.
Other times, he runs with other whippets, and it’s fun to see everyone gawking at the whippet race.
Anyway, beyond the lightning speed and grace, they are a gentle, quiet breed, great with people of all ages, not too big, not too small, loves to snuggle, and just an overall joy to be around. They aren’t too good with very cold weather unless you geta jacket for them, but other than that, they are more durable than they look.
Eventually, though, at the dog park, our whippet would get tired first, and the other dogs would catch up or learned to cut him off by running diagonally across the park instead of following directly behind. Then, they would pin him up against the fence, nipping at him to try to get him to run some more. We had to go in and break it up so our guy could catch his breath.
Eventually, he got sick of all that and just stopped running at the dog park. I guess he figured out that he loves running, but hates the end part where he gets tired, then surrounded and picked on. So we don’t go back there. We have found other places with other dog friends, and it’s still amazing to watch him run. It never gets old.
Totally and absoloutly the Border Collie,followed by Labradors,followed closely by all other dogs excepting War dogs which can mostly go fuck themselves.
I’ve always liked bigger dogs.
American Mastiff, the less drooly version of the English, was intro’d to me by Caprese, I beleive. I realize dig dogs that could be a menace but really are speed bumps on the carpet.
Pryenese. Such a big, furry, creature. Went to a Sheep and Yarn show at a farm and the family’s Pyrene’s looked so magnificent and out of joint because ALL THESE PEOPLE were on his property and he wasn’t allowed to herd them at all. I cannot get a breed that I cannot spell the same way twice.
I had a lab/mastiff mix for a dozen years and if I could clone another one, I would do so in a heart beat. She was smart, friendly, and hopped in the UPS truck any chance she could to go for a ride. I learned everything about parenting and socializing from my Murphy.
The biggest problem for me for a big dog is the vet costs and food bill. The poop, the hair, the drool, the training, I can handle. It is paying the bills on something that size that hurts.
We have been doggy less for over a year now and itching for another dog.
Dachsund has been up there for awhile for many reasons, but the silliest of all is so that I could name it " Mr. Weenie". and wear a t-shirt that says, " I (heart) my Weiner." srsly, how cool is the name Mr. Weenie. I got it from my son’s 10 year old friend who wants a weener dog to call him just that.
Pugs. Cute, ready for a romp. Not delicate like other little dogs.
Jack Russell Terrorists. I know how freakisly athletic and energy packed these dogs are. The size and low maintenence is what I love. It’s the energy I worry about. We also don’t have a fenced yard. I would call a boy dog Vinnie, after a friend of ours who is exactly like a JRT.
If you like doggy shopping as much as I do, I heartily recommend The Good, The Bad and The Furry for an excellent, honest , street review of breeds from breeders and rescue organizations.
There are Dobermans and then there’s rest…meet Silky, my current owner.
Seconded. I haven’t owned a dog since childhood, but I love Vizsla’s. I have never hunted behind a better breed. They also look good, have short hair, and are “right” sized, as well as being reasonably well behaved for a hunting-type dog. These qualities would be important to me if I ever decided to get a dog as a pet.
I like your list, but I’ll change out the Cairn Terrier for a good ol’ Beagle. They look so damn happy all the time!
Beagles are just a nose and stomach.
And a voice!
I have had quite a few of these over the years (I used to breed them).
What a fun little dog they are. Quite high maintenance though
Welcome to the Dope! You may not get many replies from the original posters, it is a zombie.
That being said, dachshunds are the best, the poll is closed!
Oh god, I only just looked at the date of the thread
Oh well lol
My picks fall into two classes - retrievers and spaniels. In particular:
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Labrador retrievers, my all-time favorite breed. Enthusiastic, lovable, goofy beasts with the classic “dog” look.
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Cavalier King Charles spaniels. Happy to be couch potatoes or active little dogs depending on your lifestyle. Very affectionate. Some genetic problems requiring careful screening.
As noted by another poster, over-breeding has resulted in some less than optimal German shepherds. The ones from good lines are handsome, solid dogs that I’ve always liked. Well, almost always. There was a nasty one named “Lady” that lived next door when I was a young child. And I had to pass an enormous one who guarded a hardware store on my walking route to get milk from the store. I remember stopping dead on the sidewalk while this huge animal got up and came over to check me out (he seemed to come clear to my shoulders). After a sniff he decided I was harmless. 
Beagles for me. Every one I’ve known has been dumber than a box of rocks, but I love them anyway.
Labs are great too, but the one we had stunk to high heaven.
American Eskimos and Samoyeds. Both members of the Spitz family. They have the most wonderful personalities, and they’re big balls of white fluff. The Best.
Those are my top two, both embodied in our most recent dear departed dog. We knew a member of the family which developed the Dogo and he said our girl, a rescue, was definitely at least part Dogo. We assume her other main bloodline was APBT. That’s a common mix for fighting dogs in our area (‘Pogo’) and she was rescued from that life. She was the best dog I’ve ever known.
Our daughter’s (apparently mainly) APBT is also a great dog. Our ‘Pogo’ had many facets to her personality, generally regal and serene, gentle and shy with strangers, though also had a cute silly side when she got to know someone. Our daughter’s ‘pibble’ in contrast is a non-stop riot, hilarious dog, but both very sweet to all humans.
3-5 would be Basset Hound and Beagle (in honor of our previous dog, a ‘Bagel’, very clever boy) plus Miniature Dachshund (my sister in law’s also now passed very cute little dog).
Welcome. We’ve all done it.
My favorite dog is Rat Terrier. I love terriers of all kinds really. Funny, opinionated, Scary smart.
At the moment I have Yorkie and a Beagle in the house. Both were taken in odd circumstances. Both, dumb as dirt. Still, I love them to distraction. Sometimes the pet picks you, not the other way around.I like a cross, but if I’m going to name breeds:
Australian Shepherd
Border collie
Old English Sheepdog
Catahoula Leopard Dog
Alaskan Husky
— braaaaiiiinns!
Oh, and I know it’s a zombie, but nevertheless want to mention re this:
A lot of short-faced snorey dogs have serious breathing problems.
https://www.ufaw.org.uk/dogs/shar-pei-brachycephalic-airway-obstruction-syndrome
Also welcome and a fun thread to reanimate!
I loved our couch potato greyhounds and whippets. Our Wheaten was a sweet idiot. But our current two year old Miniature Australian Shepherd (officially Miniature American Shepherd) is our official best dog ever. Unlike full size Aussies the breeder allowed him to keep his very expressive tail. And his eye expressiveness! Nearly as smart as a Border but none of the problems I hear their owners report.
My only problem with him has been dog park, which he loves, but he’s an overly competitive sore loser punk. If there are balls or pull toys around, and there always are, he will win the race for them nearly every time, steal it away when he loses (rarely), but put on a dominance show that one time he cannot. Which means immediate departure then and lately doing so preemptively once someone starts throwing a ball. No competition and he is great.
I’m not a dog person; but, my favourite pure breed just has to be the basset hound (mentioned approvingly by ten-odd posters in this thread). This comes from a much-loved uncle and aunt of mine, who having discovered basset hounds, spent the second half of their long lives in total thrall to the breed – owning a long succession of them, and managing the breeding of a litter of the beasts. (They’d wanted children, but were unable to have them – which likely, played a role in their basset-besottment.)
I found it impossible not to like bassets – they’re so delightfully grotesque and absurdly floppy, and have the “doleful clown” thing down to perfection.
(My bolding) Per my observation, much good it usually does them. My uncle and aunt and various of their hounds, took part for a good many years as followers with the UK’s only proper hunting pack of basset hounds, who through the more wintry part of the year, went out to country scenes most weekends, in pursuit of the European hare. Bassets hunt pretty well exclusively by scent – their eyesight is very poor: the hare – over whom their only advantage, is tenacity – usually ran rings round this pack. They managed to kill a hare on perhaps one expedition out of five or six; the “basset folks” joked that they were practising the nearest thing possible, to a bloodless blood-sport.
(My most hated pure dog breed, by the way, is an abomination which we have in Britain, called the Patterdale terrier. Has a brown, woolly coat; hallmarks of the breed are, being hyperactive and in a perpetual state of aggressive anger. Relatives of mine – dealings with whom are otherwise very harmonious – own one of these creatures-from-hell. Suffice it to say, that I have problems with it.)